45 



When Worked on Lemon. 



As is the case with oranges worked on lemon, so with the naartje 

 one may find a coarsening of the skin, a tendency to puffiness and a 

 slight "lemony" flavour. All these points are objectionable and do 

 not tend to perfection of fruit. With age, however, these features are 

 modified, though perhaps not entirely eliminated. The writer has 

 been informed by one of the oldest citrus growers in the Western 

 Province of the Cape that he could tell from the taste of the fruit 

 from a 50-year-old naartje tree whether it was worked on lemon root 

 or not. Po_ssibly the sense of taste is more fully developed in some 

 individuals than in others. 



On Shaddock. 



The behaviour of the naartje when budded on the root of the 

 shaddock is somewhat peculiar. In some instances no apparent 

 difference can be observed between the fruit produced on such a tree 

 and that borne on the parent stem. In other cases the fruit develops 

 m size enormously, becomes unnaturally large, and does not improve 

 in flavour. Owing, perhaps, to the unreliability of this stock the 

 shaddock is rarely used as a root for the naartje. 



Citrus Trifoliata. 



This stock has not been thoroughly tested in South Africa as a 

 graft carrier of any kind of citru^ fruit. Experiments are, however, 

 in course of progress at the Warmbaths (Transvaal) Experimental 

 Station, and the results as far as they have been reached seem to 

 indicate that its use in certain districts and climates will be beneficial 

 in the extreme. With regard to the naartje worked on Trifoliata, it 

 may be said that the fruit produced is apparently equal in flavour to 

 that grown on naartje trees, either as seedlings or grafts, wLiist for 

 texture of flesh and fineness of skin it is superior. Little tendency to 

 dwarfing has so far appeared. This is, in other countries, a common 

 complaint, and it is singular in the course of the experimental work 

 referred to that in all cases the root appears to be a more vigorous 

 grower than the graft it carries, which is shown by the fact that at 

 the junction of the bud and the stock the latter is invariably 25 per 

 cent., and in many cases 50 per cent., greater in circumference than 

 the former. 



Additional good qualities are that it is practically resistant to 

 root disease of all kinds and extremely hardy. 



As a Stock for Satsuma Manda/rin. 



In America it is used somewhat extensively as a .=itock for the 

 Satsuma Mandarin, and it is claimed that the stock confers frost- 

 resistant qualities on the fruit borne, thus extending the range within 

 some degrees north of what was previously recognized as tbe limit. 

 However, it is not necessary to make use of it in South Africa for that 

 purpose. Our limits here are not defined as much by latitude as by 

 the supply of irrigation water. It will be recognized, therefore, that 

 the possibilities of beneficial use of the Trifoliata as a stock ior the 

 naartje are well worth exploiting; and this has especial reference to 

 the coastal districts of Natal where an ideal stock does not at present 

 •exist. 



Sites and Climate. 



Sites for a naartje orchard must be chosen with regard to the same 

 requirements as those of the orange. Similar remarks r.pply as to 



